Leica and Phase One divorce, does this affect the S2 and S-series?

The relationship between Leica and Phase One that was supposed to help with the Leica medium format project (S-series) has now ended! This is breaking news at the British Journal of Photography. The "marriage" happened at Photokina 2008, but apparently "things changed" since then.

One of the things that changed is of course Phase One buying Leaf from Kodak, and having their own mini-empire in MeFo (shortcut for Medium Format that makes it sound "cool") perhaps they did not want to be aiding and abating the competition.

Amateur Photographer UK tried to get Leica UK to answer the question on how their medium-format (S-series) project is affected by the Phase One divorce but could not get one.

It is quite possible that the relationship (practically) ended earlier on, and it was just now made public. It's hard to really know, unless you are there at the negotiating table and participating in the conference calls.

So perhaps this change may have already been factored in and adjustments have (had) already been made by Leica? Leicaphiles would certainly hope so. Which perhaps may explain why the Leica VP of marketing sounded rather optimistic on the S-series future when interviewed at the Imaging Insider last week.

This also puts yesterday's Leica-Canon sensor rumor in a different light, although of course it is a different sensor size.

And speaking of the Leica S2, be sure to check out our opinion poll on where you think the price of the Leica S2 will be when it is officially priced by Leica. Currently, 40% of the votes put the price in the $15000 to $25000 price range. Of course the price of the S2 is not decided by vote, but it will be interesting to see how it plays out!